The GAO made 3 recommendations based on its evaluation of how the military is lacking in helping servicemembers understand their retirement plan. Employers take note. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The switch to the new blended retirement system for members of the U.S. military saw an effort on the part of the Department of Defense to provide training to soldiers, sailors and airmen and airwomen on its still relatively new Blended Retirement System (BRS).

However, those efforts have been less successful than they could have been, thanks in part to a lack of financial literacy on the part of servicemembers that keeps them from getting the full benefit of such training.

That's according to a report by the Government Accounting Office, which points out that it's not that DoD is failing to provide training, but that it does not assess servicemembers' level of financial literacy or evaluate how well the training succeeds at providing necessary information so that servicemembers benefit from it.